The Doctrine and Covenants

Section 63

Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Kirtland, Ohio, August 30, 1831. The Prophet, Sidney Rigdon, and Oliver Cowdery had arrived in Kirtland on August 27 from their visit to Missouri. Joseph Smith’s history describes this revelation: “In these infant days of the Church, there was a great anxiety to obtain the word of the Lord upon every subject that in any way concerned our salvation; and as the land of Zion was now the most important temporal object in view, I enquired of the Lord for further information upon the gathering of the Saints, and the purchase of the land, and other matters.”

1–6, A day of wrath will come upon the wicked; 7–12, Signs come by faith; 13–19, The adulterous in heart will deny the faith and be cast into the lake of fire; 20, The faithful will receive an inheritance upon the transfigured earth; 21, A full account of the events on the Mount of Transfiguration has not yet been revealed; 22–23, The obedient receive the mysteries of the kingdom; 24–31, Inheritances in Zion are to be purchased; 32–35, The Lord decrees wars, and the wicked slay the wicked; 36–48, The Saints are to gather to Zion and provide moneys to build it up; 49–54, Blessings are assured the faithful at the Second Coming, in the Resurrection, and during the Millennium; 55–58, This is a day of warning; 59–66, The Lord’s name is taken in vain by those who use it without authority.

1 Hearken, O ye people, and open your hearts and give ear from afar; and listen, you that call yourselves the apeople of the Lord, and hear the word of the Lord and his will concerning you.

2 Yea, verily, I say, hear the word of him whose anger is akindled against the wicked and brebellious;

3 Who willeth to take even them whom he will atake, and bpreserveth in life them whom he will preserve;

4 Who buildeth up at his own will and apleasure; and destroyeth when he pleases, and is able to bcast the soul down to hell.

6 Wherefore, verily I say, let the wicked take heed, and let the arebelliousbfear and tremble; and let the unbelieving hold their lips, for the cday of wrath shall come upon them as a dwhirlwind, and all flesh shall eknow that I am God.

7 And he that seeketh asigns shall see bsigns, but not unto salvation.

8 Verily, I say unto you, there are those among you who seek signs, and there have been such even from the beginning;

9 But, behold, faith cometh not by signs, but asigns follow those that believe.

10 Yea, asigns come by bfaith, not by the will of men, nor as they please, but by the will of God.

11 Yea, signs come by faith, unto mighty works, for without afaith no man pleaseth God; and with whom God is bangry he is not well pleased; wherefore, unto such he showeth no signs, only in cwrath unto their dcondemnation.

12 Wherefore, I, the Lord, am not pleased with those among you who have sought after signs and wonders for faith, and not for the good of men unto my glory.

13 Nevertheless, I give commandments, and many have turned away from my commandments and have anot kept them.

14 There were among you aadulterers and adulteresses; some of whom have turned away from you, and others remain with you that hereafter shall be revealed.

15 Let such beware and repent speedily, lest judgment shall come upon them as a asnare, and their bfolly shall be made manifest, and their works shall follow them in the eyes of the people.

16 And verily I say unto you, as I have said before, he that alooketh on a woman to blust after her, or if any shall commit cadultery in their hearts, they shall not have the dSpirit, but shall deny the faith and shall fear.

19 And now behold, I, the Lord, say unto you that ye are not ajustified, because these things are among you.

20 Nevertheless, he that aendureth in faith and doeth my bwill, the same shall overcome, and shall receive an cinheritance upon the earth when the day of transfiguration shall come;

21 When the aearth shall be btransfigured, even according to the pattern which was shown unto mine apostles upon the cmount; of which account the fulness ye have not yet received.

22 And now, verily I say unto you, that as I said that I would make known my will unto you, behold I will make it known unto you, anot by the way of commandment, for there are many who observe not to keep my commandments.

23 But unto him that keepeth my commandments I will give the amysteries of my kingdom, and the same shall be in him a well of living bwater, cspringing up unto everlasting life.

24 And now, behold, this is the will of the Lord your God concerning his saints, that they should aassemble themselves together unto the land of Zion, not in haste, lest there should be confusion, which bringeth pestilence.

26 Nevertheless, I, the Lord, render unto aCæsar the things which are Cæsar’s.

27 Wherefore, I the Lord will that you should apurchase the lands, that you may have advantage of the world, that you may have claim on the world, that they may not be bstirred up unto anger.

28 For aSatanbputteth it into their hearts to anger against you, and to the shedding of blood.

29 Wherefore, the land of Zion shall not be obtained but by apurchase or by blood, otherwise there is none inheritance for you.

30 And if by purchase, behold you are blessed;

31 And if by ablood, as you are forbidden to shed blood, lo, your enemies are upon you, and ye shall be scourged from city to city, and from synagogue to synagogue, and but bfew shall stand to receive an inheritance.

32 I, the Lord, am aangry with the bwicked; I am holding my cSpirit from the inhabitants of the earth.

33 I have sworn in my wrath, and adecreed wars upon the face of the earth, and the wicked shall bslay the wicked, and fear shall come upon every man;

34 And the asaints also shall bhardlycescape; nevertheless, I, the Lord, am with them, and will dcome down in heaven from the presence of my Father and econsume the wicked with unquenchable fire.

36 Wherefore, seeing that I, the Lord, have decreed all these things upon the face of the earth, I will that my saints should be assembled upon the land of Zion;

37 aAnd that every man should take brighteousness in his hands and cfaithfulness upon his loins, and lift a warning dvoice unto the inhabitants of the earth; and declare both by word and by flight that edesolation shall come upon the wicked.

38 Wherefore, let my disciples in Kirtland arrange their temporal concerns, who dwell upon this farm.

39 Let my servant Titus Billings, who has the care thereof, dispose of the land, that he may be prepared in the coming spring to take his journey up unto the land of Zion, with those that dwell upon the face thereof, excepting those whom I shall reserve unto myself, that shall anot go until I shall command them.

40 And let all the moneys which can be spared, it mattereth not unto me whether it be little or much, be sent up unto the land of Zion, unto them whom I have appointed to areceive.

41 Behold, I, the Lord, will give unto my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., power that he shall be enabled to adiscern by the Spirit those who shall go up unto the land of Zion, and those of my disciples who shall tarry.

42 Let my servant aNewel K. Whitney retain his bstore, or in other words, the store, yet for a little season.

43 Nevertheless, let him impart all the money which he can impart, to be sent up unto the land of Zion.

44 Behold, these things are in his own hands, let him do aaccording to wisdom.

45 Verily I say, let him be ordained as an agent unto the disciples that shall tarry, and let him be aordained unto this power;

46 And now speedily visit the churches, expounding these things unto them, with my servant Oliver Cowdery. Behold, this is my will, obtaining moneys even as I have directed.

48 He that sendeth up treasures unto the land of Zion shall receive an ainheritance in this world, and his works shall follow him, and also a breward in the world to come.

49 Yea, and blessed are the dead that adie in the Lord, from henceforth, when the Lord shall come, and old things shall bpass away, and all things become new, they shall crise from the dead and shall not ddie after, and shall receive an inheritance before the Lord, in the eholy city.

50 And he that liveth when the Lord shall come, and hath kept the faith, ablessed is he; nevertheless, it is appointed to him to bdie at the age of man.

51 Wherefore, achildren shall bgrow up until they become old; old men shall die; but they shall not sleep in the dust, but they shall be cchanged in the twinkling of an eye.

52 Wherefore, for this cause preached the apostles unto the world the resurrection of the dead.

53 These things are the things that ye must look for; and, speaking after the manner of the Lord, they are now anigh at hand, and in a time to come, even in the day of the coming of the Son of Man.

54 And until that hour there will be foolish avirgins among the wise; and at that hour cometh an entire bseparation of the righteous and the wicked; and in that day will I send mine angels to cpluck out the wicked and cast them into unquenchable fire.

55 And now behold, verily I say unto you, I, the Lord, am not pleased with my servant aSidney Rigdon; he bexalted himself in his heart, and received not counsel, but cgrieved the Spirit;

56 Wherefore his awriting is not acceptable unto the Lord, and he shall make another; and if the Lord receive it not, behold he standeth no longer in the office to which I have appointed him.

57 And again, verily I say unto you, athose who desire in their hearts, in meekness, to bwarn sinners to repentance, let them be ordained unto this power.

58 For this is a day of awarning, and not a day of many words. For I, the Lord, am not to be bmocked in the last days.

59 Behold, I am from above, and my power lieth beneath. I am over all, and in all, and through all, and asearch all things, and the day cometh that all things shall be bsubject unto me.

61 Wherefore, let all men abeware how they take my bname in their lips—

62 For behold, verily I say, that many there be who are under this condemnation, who use the name of the Lord, and use it in vain, having not aauthority.

63 Wherefore, let the church repent of their sins, and I, the Lord, will aown them; otherwise they shall be cut off.

64 Remember that that which cometh from above is asacred, and must be bspoken with care, and by constraint of the Spirit; and in this there is no condemnation, and ye receive the Spirit cthrough prayer; wherefore, without this there remaineth condemnation.

65 Let my servants, Joseph Smith, Jun., and Sidney Rigdon, seek them a home, as they are ataught through prayer by the Spirit.

66 These things remain to overcome through patience, that such may receive a more exceeding and eternal aweight of bglory, otherwise, a greater condemnation. Amen.